LEEDS KNIGHTS brought the curtain down on a frantic nine games in 17 days by returning to winning ways at The Castle on Sunday night - downing Basingstoke Bison 4-2.
It was instant revenge for a narrow 4-3 loss in Hampshire the previous night - which came on the back of a 3-1 first leg defeat to Sheffield Steeldogs in the NIHL National Cup Final two nights earlier.
The Knights started their hectic schedule with wins over leaders Swindon Wildcats and Sheffield but then suffered a six-game losing streak - including the first leg of the final - before finding that winning feeling again.
But they had to do it the hard way at home to the Bison - still pushing hard for a play-off spot - when they went behind early to a power play strike from Thomas Relf after just 51 seconds.
The Knights pushed hard for a way back into the game but it wasn’t until just after the halfway mark that momentum finally swung in their favour.
Matt Bissonnette marked a leaders’ performance when he fired home from close range to make it 1-1 at 30.26 before - just over two minutes later - Liam Peyton blasted home from the right circle to put the hosts into the lead.
Bissonnette doubled his tally with a wraparound effort at 34.32 to put the Knights firmly in control, a position strengthened further at 46.40 on the power play when Danny Harrison went five-hole on goalie Tom Max Wright from the right circle, following good approach play by Oli Endicott.
Basingstoke gave themselves hope in the 55th minute with a power play effort from Adam Harding, but the Knights dug deep and saw the game out for a valuable two points in the battle to finish runners-up behind newly-crowned champions, Swindon.
The previous night in Basingstoke, the Knights fell 2-0 behind inside 13 minutes through goals from Bison’s Luke Spadafora and Brendan Sellan.
Peyton showed nice hands to lift the puck over Wright from close range to make it 2-1 at 14.23 but Bison restored their two-goal cushion just over five minutes into the second through Zak Shankar.
The Knights were back within one before the end of the period when Owen Sobchak broke down the right before setting up Bissonnette for a calm finish at 38.36.
A breakaway ended with Liam Morris beating Gospel just 74 seconds into the third period but the last few minutes proved to be tense when Sobchak set up Harrison to fire home from the left circle on the power play at 54.47.
They came close on a couple of occasions, but the Knights couldn’t find the equaliser their efforts deserved.
